He is currently a professor at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) and an affiliate professor at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy. At EUI, he co-led the “Syrian Trajectories: Challenges and Opportunities for Peacebuilding” project from 2022 to 2024. Daher holds two doctorates: one in Development Studies from SOAS, University of London (2015), and another in Political Science from the University of Lausanne (2018).

Her work focuses on the challenges facing women’s participation in Iraq’s political life and civil society organizations, particularly in the post-2003 period. She analyzes obstacles such as gender discrimination, lack of institutional and financial support, weak policies, and uninspiring legislation. Additionally, she addresses the consecutive social and political challenges that have exacerbated this discrimination. In her analyses, Hiyam Ali proposes a set of recommendations and possible paths for public policies and civil society to improve and consolidate women’s positions within the current Iraqi political scene.

He is a Belgian historian and futurist who specializes in regional development, foresight, and institutional evolution, especially in the context of Wallonia (Belgium). He is a leading figure in both academic and policy-oriented circles.

Zakaria Taha is a senior lecturer at the Université Grenoble Alpes and director of the Center for Oriental Studies and Research (CREO) within the ILCEA4/UGA laboratory. A political scientist specializing in the Middle East, particularly Syria, he recently co-edited, with Alicia Fernández García, the book States and Societies in the Middle East and North Africa: Revolutions, Conflicts, Territories, published by L’Harmattan in 2024.

Denis Bauchard is a seasoned French diplomat and expert in Middle Eastern and North African affairs. A graduate of Sciences Po Paris and the École nationale d’administration (ENA), he has held prominent positions both in government and key international institutions.

Sarah-Anne Rennick is a political scientist whose work centers on youth activism, social movements, and democratic transitions in the Arab world. She holds a dual PhD in Political Science from Lund University and the EHESS (École des hautes études en sciences sociales). She is the Deputy Director for Research and head of the Youth as Political Actors program at the Arab Reform Initiative in Paris.

She is an Iraqi Yazidi gynecologist who treated and helped thousands of Yazidi women victims of ISIS. She received the International Women of Courage Award by the US State Department, the SOLIDAR Silver Rose Award, the Franco–German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law amongst other distinctions. She is the founder of Hope Makers, an NGO offering support and psychological aid in Iraq.

He is an Iraqi-American scholar and policy expert specializing in governance, energy politics, and democratic reform in Iraq—particularly in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. He is now the President of the American University of Iraq-Sulaymaniyah since mid-2024.

Hussam is a Syrian investigative journalist and activist originally from Raqqa, widely recognized for his courageous frontline reporting on human rights violations, jihadist networks, and war crimes since the onset of the Syrian revolution in 2011.

He is an Iraqi academic, author, and human rights advocate renowned for his work on religious and ethnic diversity in Iraq. He serves as an Assistant Professor in the College of Political Science at Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad.

He is an is a prominent Iraqi political analyst and academic, currently serving as a professor of public policy at the University of Baghdad. He is also the head of the Iraqi Center for Political Thinking. Dr. al-Shammari is widely recognized for his insightful analyses on Iraq’s political dynamics, regional relations, and security challenges.

Ido Levy is an associate fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a PhD candidate at American University’s School of International Service. His research focuses on terrorism, military operations, and the Middle East and Africa. His work has appeared in NBC, The Hill, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Terrorism and Political Violence, Modern War Institute, Irregular Warfare Initiative, and other outlets.

He is an Iraqi political analyst and researcher specializing in Iraqi and Middle Eastern affairs. He is a consultant for the Iraqi Center for Strategic Studies (ICSS), based in Amman, and has contributed to various analyses and reports on Iraq’s political landscape.

He is an Iraqi researcher specializing in international relations, national security, and Middle Eastern geopolitics. He currently serves as a professor at the College of Political Science at the University of Mosul, Iraq .

She is a political scientist specializing in Middle Eastern studies, with a particular focus on Kurdish movements, nationalism, and social movements in Turkey. She currently serves as a Teaching Fellow in Political Science at the Institut Catholique de Paris and holds a Visiting Research Fellowship in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London.

He holds the position of Professor Emeritus at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM) and has served as the Rector of the Montpellier Academy. Chapuisat is also a founding member of the Association Française des Amis de la Science (AFAS) in Montpellier, where he has been involved in organizing conferences and promoting scientific discourse.

He is French political geographer renowned for his expertise in the geopolitics of Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. He has dedicated much of his academic and professional career to studying the Middle East.

Associate Professor in Political Science at Sciences Po Lyon, Director of the Diploma Program on Contemporary Arab World (DEMAC) at Sciences Po Lyon, and a researcher at the Triangle Laboratory, UMR 5206, Lyon.

Christian Taoutel is a historian and an esteemed faculty member at Saint Joseph University (USJ) in Beirut. In 2022, he was elevated to the rank of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Republic. In 2024, he was honored as “Personality of the Month of Francophonie” by the USJ Alumni Association.

He is a senior advisor in the Kurdistan Parliament as well as a researcher and writer. His areas of interests include civil/military relations, the Middle East, regional politics, the Kurdish question and governance.

He is a lecturer at the Department of Sociology at the University of Soran. He is an associate researcher at the research department in iReMMO in Paris and in the Norbert Elias foundation in Amsterdam. He is interested in the why of genocide: why Mesopotamia and Anatolia have become a place for genocide and what is the role of the nation-state in the mass atrocities and genocide. Likewise, he is interested in the nature of extremism and the root causes of terrorism in radical movements and their relation to the different ideological schools of political Islam. His current research is concentrated on two distinct topics

She is a professor of history-geography and geopolitics in the United States. In 2018, she earned the title of analyst in international strategy, specializing in geopolitics. She is a researcher for different think tanks as well at EISMENA.

He is  a French demographer specializing in the socio-political implications of demographic change, particularly in the Arab and Muslim world. Between 1970s and late 1980s Courbage served in international roles as a specialist for UNESCO and the United Nations across Beirut, Cairo, Yaoundé, Port-au-Prince, and Rabat.

He is a distinguished French economist and Middle East specialist, particularly known for his expertise on Iran. He is a research fellow at IRIS, and a Professor at Novancia where he teaches macroeconomics, international economics, and country-risk analysis.

Professor Emeritus. Former Dean of the Faculty of Law at Nancy and later at Cergy-Paris. Honorary President of iReMMO, he authored numerous works on the Middle East and international relations.

Myriam Benraad is a political scientist, lecturer in political science and international relations, and an associate researcher at the Institute for Research and Studies on the Arab and Muslim Worlds (IREMAM, CNRS), and EISMENA. A Middle East specialist, she has authored numerous publications on the region. Alongside her academic research, she serves as an expert for several international organizations.